The State University of New York College at Buffalo (colloquially referred to as Buffalo State College, SUNY Buffalo State, Buffalo State, or simply Buff State) is a

public college A public university or public college is a university or college that is in owned by the state or receives significant public funds through a national or subnational government, as opposed to a private university. Whether a national universit ...

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

. It is part of the

State University of New York The State University of New York (SUNY, , ) is a system of public colleges and universities in the State of New York. It is one of the largest comprehensive system of universities, colleges, and community colleges in the United States. Led by ...

(SUNY) system. Buffalo State College was founded in 1871 as the Buffalo Normal School to train teachers. It offers 79 undergraduate majors with 11 honors options, 11 post baccalaureate teacher certification programs, and 64 graduate programs.

History

Buffalo State was founded in 1871 as the Buffalo Normal School before becoming the State Normal and Training School (1888–1927), the State Teachers College at Buffalo (1928–1946), the New York State College for Teachers at Buffalo (1946–1950), SUNY, New York State College for Teachers (1950–1951), the State University College for Teachers at Buffalo (1951–1959), the State University College of Education at Buffalo (1960–1961), and finally the State University College at Buffalo in 1961. Eighty-six students attended the Buffalo Normal School on the first day of classes on September 13, 1871. The school's purpose was to provide a uniform training program for teachers to serve Buffalo's fast-growing public school population. Today, Buffalo State remains one of only 136 colleges in the nation to host a teacher-preparation program, but its curricular offerings now include more than 250 undergraduate and graduate programs. The WWII years were another time of growth for the college; in 1944, the now renowned Special Education program was founded and in 1948, the first dormitory building was erected where the present-day Moot Hall is located. In 1961, Buffalo State was the first institution in the SUNY system to offer a study-abroad program, a semester-long immersion program in Siena, Italy. International study programs now include international exchange and study-abroad programs in Australia, Canada, England, Italy, the Netherlands, Puerto Rico, and Spain. In 1964, the Buffalo State College

Planetarium A planetarium ( planetariums or ''planetaria'') is a Theater (structure), theatre built primarily for presenting educational entertainment, educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navi ...

opened its doors with a 24-foot dome, and Dr. James Orgren became the facility's director in 1966. On November 17, 1978, a fire destroyed the facility, but the community's generosity allowed it to reopen on April 18, 1980. In April 1982, it was renamed the Whitworth Ferguson Planetarium in honor of its greatest benefactor. In 1984, Dr. Orgren hired Mr. Arthur Gielow as his successor. Mr. Gielow died in 2010, and after a brief remodeling, the planetarium reopened in 2011 under the direction of Dr. Kevin Williams. In January 2013, the planetarium hosted a closing ceremony that highlighted its 48-year history. Through 2010–2012, staff members Tim Collins, Stephen Dubois and Terry Farrell created several programs. In 2015, a generous donation allowed the planetarium to reopen with a temporary 20-foot inflatable fulldome system. The new 35-foot dome facility is now open in the Science And Math Complex building.

Campus

Buffalo state has 29 buildings including student centers, academic buildings, athletics buildings, office buildings, and residence halls. Buffalo State is undergoing a $350 million campus-wide improvement project. In 2011, a $45 million Student Apartment Complex opened on the west side of campus. It is Buffalo State's largest addition to campus student housing since the early 1970s. A new $38 million Technology Building is expected to achieve

LEED Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating systems for the design, construction ...

gold certification through the

U.S. Green Building Council The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), co-founded by Mike Italiano, David Gottfried and Rick Fedrizzi in 1993, is a private 501(c)3, membership-based non-profit organization that promotes sustainability in building design, construction, and op ...

. A $103.4 million renovation and expansion of the Science and Mathematics Complex is under way and is scheduled for completion in 2017. Other campus projects include a $9.5 million renovation on the third floor of Rockwell Hall, $5.6 million renovation to the Campbell Student Union, $28 million rehabilitation of the Houston Gymnasium, $9 million in rehabilitation to the Tower 4 residence hall, and $11.2 million in underground utility replacements in the Rockwell Quadrangle and nearby vicinity.

Academics

Buffalo State College Student Affairs Vice President and Dean of Students Phillip Santa Maria Speaking at MOOG, Elma, New York, 2000

Buffalo State has 79 undergraduate majors with 11 honors options and 64 opportunities for graduate study, including 11 teacher certification programs. Fifty-one faculty members have been awarded the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching, and seven have been honored as SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professors. More than 80 percent of all classes at Buffalo State have fewer than 40 students. Classes for undergraduate majors usually have between 12 and 15 students. As of 2016, 49 Buffalo State faculty members have been awarded the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Schools

Buffalo State is composed of four schools: the School of Arts and Sciences, the School of Education, the School of the Professions, and the Graduate School.

Programs and centers

Programs available at Buffalo State that are not offered at any other SUNY institution include

adult education Adult education, distinct from child education, is a practice in which adults engage in systematic and sustained self-educating activities in order to gain new forms of knowledge, skills, attitudes, or values. Merriam, Sharan B. & Brockett, Ral ...

applied economics Applied economics is the study as regards the application of economic theory and econometrics in specific settings. As one of the two sets of fields of economics (the other set being the ''core''), it is typically characterized by the application ...

art conservation The conservation and restoration of cultural property focuses on protection and care of cultural property (tangible cultural heritage), including artworks, architecture, archaeology, and museum collections. Conservation activities include prev ...

communication design Communication design is a mixed discipline between design and information-development which is concerned with how media communicate with people. A communication design approach is not only concerned with developing the message in addition to th ...

creativity Creativity is a phenomenon whereby something new and valuable is formed. The created item may be intangible (such as an idea, a scientific theory, a musical composition, or a joke) or a physical object (such as an invention, a printed lit ...

, fashion and textile technology, fiber design,

forensic chemistry Forensic chemistry is the application of chemistry and its subfield, forensic toxicology, in a legal setting. A forensic chemist can assist in the identification of unknown materials found at a crime scene. Specialists in this field have a wid ...

, metal/jewelry design, higher education administration,

urban and regional planning Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, ...

, and wood/furniture design. Buffalo State was the first school in the world to grant a master of science in creativity. The university also now offers an undergraduate minor in Creative Studies. Both programs are offered through the International Center for Studies in Creativity, which is housed on campus. Buffalo State has 12 centers promoting growth and excellence. Others include: *

Center for Development of Human Services The Center for Development of Human Services (CDHS) was a sponsored nonprofit program of the Research Foundation of the State University of New York located at Buffalo State College. CDHS/ Research Foundation began in 1976 when a small group of Buff ...

(CDHS). Strengthening human services through training, organizational, and technical assistance; technology; and evaluation, this center offers a comprehensive menu of management, supervisory, and worker-training programs that enable students to learn to more effectively serve their future clients. * Center for Health and Social Research. Working as an integral component of Buffalo State to provide collaboration between students, faculty, and staff in intellectual development, this center works to investigate basic and applied research topics that are among the most pressing in today's society. * Great Lakes Center. This center actively conducts collaborative research with other institutions and agencies in the United States, Canada, and Europe. The research focuses primarily on lakes Erie and Ontario and their tributaries, although national and international projects are also a priority. Research topics include aquatic

invasive species An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species adv ...

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic ('' genetic variability''), species ('' species diversity''), and ecosystem ('' ecosystem diversity'') ...

and conservation of

freshwater mollusks Freshwater molluscs are those members of the Phylum Mollusca which live in freshwater habitats, both lotic (flowing water) such as rivers, streams, canals, springs, and cave streams (stygobite species) and lentic (still water) such as lak ...

, nutrient stoichiometry and lake budgets,

population ecology Population ecology is a sub-field of ecology that deals with the dynamics of species populations and how these populations interact with the environment, such as birth and death rates, and by immigration and emigration. The discipline is import ...

water quality Water quality refers to the chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of water based on the standards of its usage. It is most frequently used by reference to a set of standards against which compliance, generally achieved through tr ...

, and

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (Anoxic waters, anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in t ...

chemistry and

hydrology Hydrology () is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and environmental watershed sustainability. A practitioner of hydrology is call ...

Research

Through the Research Foundation for the State University of New York, Buffalo State receives more grants and research support than all SUNY colleges combined. Activities include an annual student research symposium, a summer research fellowship program, a small grants program to support academic-year research, travel support for students presenting or performing at professional meetings and conferences, and faculty development opportunities related to undergraduate research.

Rankings

Buffalo State was ranked 31 in the category Top Public Schools Regional Universities (North) by ''U.S. News & World Report''s "Best Colleges 2012." When all public and private institutions are included, Buffalo State is ranked 110 in the Top Regional Universities (North) Tier 1, as of 2016. In the same report in 2012, it ranked 73rd nationally for graduate schools in speech-language pathology. Ranking Web of Universities ranks Buffalo State 4 out of 100 top universities in the Northern Region of the United States and 1,000 out of the top 12,000 in the world. International Colleges & Universities ranks Buffalo State as the 17th best university in New York State out of 145.

Student life

Demographics

There are 8,082 undergraduates and 1,036 graduate students enrolled. The undergraduate population (Fall 2018) was 43 percent male and 57 percent female. The overall admission rate of new students (2016) was 62 percent. Students both in and out of state, as well as from other countries, are a foundation of the student body; many students hail from the New York City metropolitan area. Roughly one-quarter of Buffalo State's students live on campus. The college provides a variety of options for its resident students. Some residence halls house first-year students exclusively; some house a mixture of students, and some are reserved for upper-division students. Additionally, there is a mix of specialty housing for specific groups and interests. Through the International and Exchange Programs Office, Buffalo State students can study at another campus in the United States, Canada, or around the world. Students have the opportunity to join more than 81 campus organizations, including 22

fraternities and sororities Fraternities and sororities are social organizations at colleges and universities in North America. Generally, membership in a fraternity or sorority is obtained as an undergraduate student, but continues thereafter for life. Some accept grad ...

and an International Students Organization (ISO).

United Students Government

United Students Government (USG) represents the student body in campus governance and helps administrate student activities and organizations. USG provides activities, services, and student representation at Buffalo State. USG is headed by an executive branch of students elected each year along with a judicial branch and senate elected at the same time. USG manages and disperses money provided by the mandatory student activity fee to the many organizations and clubs on campus.

Athletics

Buffalo State's sports teams are known as the Bengals. Buffalo State competes in 16 varsity sports within

NCAA Division III NCAA Division III (D-III) is a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that choose not to offer athletic scholarships to their ...

. The Bengals men's basketball team won a State University of New York's Athletic Conference championship and advanced to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Division III Tournament in 2011. In fall 2012, the Bengals football team prevailed in a dramatic upset over the No. 1-ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, breaking into the national rankings for the first time since 2000. The men's and women's ice hockey teams play in the 1,800-seat Ice Arena within the

Buffalo State Sports Arena The Buffalo State Sports Arena is a multi-purpose sports complex, in Buffalo, New York, located at Buffalo State College, a campus of SUNY. The building contains an ice arena, sports arena, fitness center, the Houston Gym, Robert Kissinger Memo ...

on campus. The Ice Arena serves as a practice facility for the Buffalo Sabres, has hosted the NJCAA championships, and is also a host site for the Western New York Federation High School Hockey regular season and championship playoffs. In 2019, the cheerleading team placed 5th at the NCA collegiate national championship in the intermediate DIII division.

Club sports

Buffalo State also has four club sports funded by the United Students Government (USG): men's club hockey,

co-ed Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically ...

, men's

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

, and women's rugby.

Greek life

Buffalo State has an Inter-Greek Association to support the operation of fraternities and sororities on campus. There are 11 fraternities and sororities recognized at Buffalo State.

Media

*BSC-TV Channel 3 *

WBNY WBNY is the college radio station of Buffalo State College, located within the city of Buffalo, New York. WBNY, licensed in 1982, broadcasts on 91.3 FM. The station is the descendant of BSC's AM carrier-current station known as WSCB, which could ...

-FM 91.3 ( MHz), student-run radio station *''The Record,'' the student-run newspaper, was published every Wednesday. It ceased being a print publication in 2016 and became online only starting in 2017. *''The Lens'', an art, culture, and literary magazine *''1300 Elmwood'', magazine for

alumni Alumni (singular: alumnus (masculine) or alumna (feminine)) are former students of a school, college, or university who have either attended or graduated in some fashion from the institution. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for grou ...

and friends, published biannually

Art

The campus's

Burchfield Penney Art Center The Burchfield Penney Art Center, or just the Burchfield Penney, is an arts and educational institution part of Buffalo State College, located adjacent to the main campus in Buffalo, New York, United States. Dedicated to the art and vision of ...

, founded in 1966, moved to its new $33 million facility in 2008. The Burchfield Penney features the work of Western New York artists and houses one of the world's largest collections of work by watercolorist

Charles E. Burchfield Charles Ephraim Burchfield (April 9, 1893 – January 10, 1967) was an American painter and visionary artist, known for his passionate watercolors of nature scenes and townscapes. The largest collection of Burchfield's paintings, archives and j ...

(1893–1967). The historic

Albright-Knox Art Gallery The Buffalo AKG Art Museum, formerly known as the Albright–Knox Art Gallery, is an art museum at 1285 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, New York, in Delaware Park. the museum's Elmwood Avenue campus is temporarily closed for construction. It hosted e ...

, which showcases modern and contemporary art, is located across the street from the campus. Students can purchase discount passes in the Student Union. There are also a number of other art galleries nearby.

Notable people

Buffalo State has 100,000 alumni living in 119 countries throughout the world. Ninety-seven percent live in the United States, and 71 percent live in New York State. The five most popular majors among alumni were elementary education (15,538), art education (4,249), exceptional education (4,180), business studies (3,979), and criminal justice (3,911). *

Susan Bies Susan Schmidt Bies (born May 5, 1947) is an American economist and corporate executive who served as a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors from 2001 to 2007. Bies was born in Buffalo, New York, and received a B.S. in education from B ...

, former member of the Federal Reserve Board *

Byron Brown Byron William Brown II (born September 24, 1958) is an American politician who is the current mayor of Buffalo, New York. He has served as Buffalo's 62nd mayor since January 2006, the City's first African-American mayor and longest serving ...

, current mayor of the City of

Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. Cleveland is the only president in American ...

, 22nd and 24th president of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

; member of the first board of directors of the Buffalo Normal School (1870); namesake of Cleveland Hall, the university's administration building * Patrick B. Burke, member of the

New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Ass ...

* Francine DelMonte, former member of the

Beverly Eckert Beverly Eckert (May 29, 1951 – February 12, 2009) was an American activist and advocate for the creation of the 9/11 Commission. She was one of the members of the 9/11 Family Steering Committee for the 9/11 Commission. Eckert's husband, Sean R ...

, member of 9/11 Family Steering Committee and co-chair of "Voices of September 11th"; died on

Colgan Air Flight 3407 Colgan Air Flight 3407 (marketed as Continental Connection Flight 3407 under a codeshare agreement with Continental Airlines), was a scheduled passenger flight from Newark, New Jersey, to Buffalo, New York, which crashed on February 12, 2009. Th ...

Diane English Diane English (born May 18, 1948) is an American screenwriter, producer and director, best known for creating the television show ''Murphy Brown'' and writing and directing the 2008 feature film '' The Women''. Early life English was born in Buf ...

, writer, screenwriter, film director *

Tom Fontana Tom Fontana (born September 12, 1951) is an American screenwriter, writer, and television producer. Fontana worked on NBC's '' Homicide: Life on the Street'' and created HBO's ''Oz.'' Early life and education Fontana was born on the west si ...

, Emmy Award-winning writer and producer *

David Franczyk David A. "Dave" Franczyk is a councilmember of the Buffalo Common Council, which is the representative legislative branch of the government of Buffalo, New York. He is also a former Liberal Party and Democratic Party nominee for the United State ...

, member of the Buffalo Common Council * Bobby Gonzalez, former head coach of the men's basketball program at

Seton Hall University Seton Hall University (SHU) is a private Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Seton Hall is the oldest diocesa ...

Brian Higgins Brian Michael Higgins (born October 6, 1959) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for , serving since 2005. The district, numbered as the 27th district from 2005 to 2013 but as the 26th since 2013, includes Buffalo and N ...

, member of the U.S. House of Representatives * Muriel A. Howard, president of the

American Association of State Colleges and Universities The American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) is an organization of state-supported colleges and universities that offer degree programs leading to bachelor's, master's or doctoral degrees. AASCU grew out of the Association o ...

, former president of Buffalo State College, and a former vice president of the

University at Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 18 ...

.About us: President's bio: Muriel A. Howard, Ph.D.
''AASCU – American Association of Colleges and Universities'', Washington, DC, 2013, Retrieved December 12, 2013.Vice president at UB will head Buffalo State
''Buffalo News'', Buffalo, NY: Berkshire Hathaway, December 12, 1995, Brady, K., Retrieved December 21, 2013.
''Living Prime Time'', December 2000, Binder, J., Retrieved January 13, 2014. * Sam Hoyt,

Empire State Development Empire State Development (ESD) is the umbrella organization for New York's two principal economic development New York state public-benefit corporations, public-benefit corporations, the New York State Urban Development Corporation (UDC) and the ...

regional president; former disgraced member of the New York State Assembly * Sylvia Hyman (B.A. art education, 1938), ceramic artist *

Carolyn Lamm Carolyn Beth Lamm (born August 22, 1948 in Buffalo, New York) is an American lawyer and a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of White & Case. She was president of the American Bar Association from 2009 to 2010, and she currently sits on the ...

, partner, White & Case LLP; former president, American Bar Association *

Robert Longo Robert Longo (born 1953) is an American artist, filmmaker, photographer and musician. Longo became first well known in the 1980s for his ''Men in the Cities'' drawing and print series, which depict sharply dressed men and women writhing in cont ...

, painter and sculptor * Gary McNamara former talk host at WGR and WBEN; nationally syndicated talk host, ''

Red Eye Radio ''Red Eye Radio'' is a talk radio program currently hosted by Eric Harley and Gary McNamara. The program is syndicated nationwide by Westwood One, and originates from WBAP in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. The show traces its history throug ...

'', Cumulus Media Networks * Kevin O'Connell, broadcaster, Channel 2 News, Buffalo * Sid Parnes, professor, co-founder International Center for Studies in Creativity * Crystal Davis Peoples-Stokes, New York State assemblywoman, 141st District *

Ralph Raico Ralph Raico (; October 23, 1936 – December 13, 2016) was an American libertarian historian of European liberalism and a professor of history at Buffalo State College.Austrian School The Austrian School is a heterodox school of economic thought that advocates strict adherence to methodological individualism, the concept that social phenomena result exclusively from the motivations and actions of individuals. Austrian scho ...

economist *

John Rzeznik John Joseph Theodore Rzeznik (; born December 5, 1965) is an American singer-songwriter, best known as the founder, guitarist and frontman of the American rock band Goo Goo Dolls, with whom he has recorded 14 studio albums. Early life Rzeznik w ...

, lead singer and guitarist of Buffalo-native rock band

Goo Goo Dolls The Goo Goo Dolls are an American rock band formed in 1986 in Buffalo, New York, by guitarist/vocalist John Rzeznik, bassist/vocalist Robby Takac, and drummer George Tutuska. After starting off as a cover band and then developing a punk sou ...

; attended one year * Tom Shannon, disk jockey at WKBW *

Cindy Sherman Cynthia Morris Sherman (born January 19, 1954) is an American artist whose work consists primarily of photographic self-portraits, depicting herself in many different contexts and as various imagined characters. Her breakthrough work is often co ...

, photographer, film director and MacArthur Genius recipient * Randy Smith, former NBA player and casino executive host * Robert E. Wright, Nef Family Chair of Political Economy at

Augustana College (South Dakota) Augustana University is a private Lutheran university in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The university identifies 1860 as the year of its founding, the same as its Rock Island, Illinois Swedish-heritage sister school, Augustana College. It derive ...

Gallery

Image: Rockwell hall.JPG, Rockwell Hall Image: Buffalo state towers.JPG, The Towers Image: Campbell student union buffalo state.JPG, Campbell Student Union Image: Bulger communication center.JPG, Bulger Communication Center Image: BSCUnionQuad.jpg, Student Union Quad

References

External links

Official websiteOfficial athletics website
{{authority control Educational institutions established in 1871 State University of New York university colleges Universities and colleges in Erie County, New York 1871 establishments in New York (state) Public universities and colleges in New York (state)